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Money isn't everything: Opals' Cambage

David Barbeler

Opals star Liz Cambage says she turned down "more money than she could ever imagine" in China to give her body and mind a much-needed rest ahead of the upcoming FIBA World Championships in Turkey.

Having spent the past three years overseas away from her mother and grandmother, Cambage, 22, will limit her services to the Opals and the WNBL's Dandenong Rangers for the remainder of the year so she can recuperate at home.

"Going non-stop overseas for the past couple of years took a toll on me physically and mentally," she said.

"There's so much more to life than chasing money."

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It was big money, too.

Cambage was reportedly making at least $100,000 a month for the four-month Chinese Basketball Association season.

And the offers were only growing.

"The money from China ended up getting pretty ridiculous. It was more money than I could ever imagine," the 203cm centre said.

"But at the end of my career I don't want to be struggling, I've got a bigger build than everyone else and I've got to be smart with what I put my body through."

While home for Cambage is currently on the Mornington Peninsula, southeast of Melbourne, she's desperately keen to buy her own place in the South Yarra area - even if she might be a Chinese season or two away from affording to do so.

"I was at an auction on Sunday and stormed off crying because I'm just sick of it all. I think I got outbid by a Hawthorn player, which sucks even more," she laughed.

Cambage is currently in Canberra at the AIS with the rest of the Opals squad for a one-week training camp ahead of September's World Championships in Turkey.

She's confident the side can improve on their fifth place in 2010, but says she wants to avoid talk of the pressure falling squarely on her shoulders while the Opals' other big gun Lauren Jackson races to recover from knee surgery in time.

"This is a team game. I hated the pressure on me at the Olympics. We're all in this together," she said.

That said, Cambage does have plans to continue standing out like she did at London 2012 - where she became the first woman to dunk at the Olympics.

"I'd love to be able to do it any time I wanted. But I psych myself out because I think it's really embarrassing when the boys miss," she says.